Coke and Pepsi May Be Losing Their Fizz

Soft-drinks consumption is going flat in North America so is now the time to invest in these soda stalwarts?

The 200-day moving average price for PEP shares is just below $70-a-share. That improves the yield to price to 3.07%. So I'm putting my buy-limit order in at around $69.80 for my strategy of buying PEP in increments, also known as "doubling-down" by some. I like to let the stock come to me, and I'm patient.

Both KO and PEP's soda sales are bubbling overseas, and KO is making money from last year's acquisition of coconut water brand Zico. KO also bought a stake in the U.S. dairy market by purchasing part of Core Power, a maker of a workout recovery shake.

Not to be left in the lurch, PEP's Naked Juice brand rose 25% last year. The Journal article also reported that PEP's "...tea and coffee sold through joint ventures with Lipton and Starbucks Starbucks ( SBUX) are posting healthy growth."

At the risk of looking like I favor PEP over KO, let me show you the same one-year chart of PEP where I included a line for the direction of its cash from quarterly operations. You can draw your own conclusions. I've already drawn mine and won't be buying too many shares until after KO and PEP report earnings in February.